Owners' Rights and Responsibilities

All owners and residents of a condo have the right to the quiet enjoyment of their unit and surroundings. This is a key tenet of the Ontario Condo Act. Yet, pages on noise problems are some of the most frequently  consulted in this website...!

The Condo Act specifies the following owners' rights, among many others:

• to receive an annual budget and, in Ontario, a reserve fund study every three years;
• to attend an AGM... but few owners attend... and, in too many condos, owners are not allowed to ask questions;
• to access most condo records... but, in too many condos, this does not happen (see the next section);
• to be represented by a board of directors who is accountable to the corporation. Yet, the section on boards is one of the three most frequently consulted in this website. In addition, this topic and that of managers represent a majority of the letters of complaints received, as seen in Readers Respond.

More examples of rights are provided throughout this website. But the writers of the letters posted in Readers Respond are very clear to the effect that owners do not actually have many rights and the rights they do have are too often not enforced. Owners are left without protection and recourse.

The second large issue is that owners do have responsibilities: Think of it--a condo is for most owners their main investment. Thus, it is also their main financial responsibility. However, condos are promoted and sold as a "hassle-free" environment and a "responsibility-free" lifestyle. Although it is true that a condo is far simpler to own and take care of than a detached home, it carries responsibilities and when these are not met, problems arise.

In other words, owners do have responsibilities and should not wait for a crisis to arise in their condo to do their duty. But, then again, it is often difficult for owners to exercise their responsibilities in condos where their basic rights are not upheld.

All in all, condo residents should be able to live in an environment that offers dignity, a sense of purpose, and community. In these respects, much depends on residents’ civility as well as on boards’ and managers’ ethics, leadership, transparency, and the dignified way in which they carry out the business of leading the condo.

Please scroll down the next sections for a discussion of specific rights.